Mirai Nagasu
The Axel jump is considered one of the hardest moves in competitive figure skating and here in the 2018 winter Olympics Mirai Nasgaua made history being the third women to have successfully landed one in competition. To many this sounds very impressive, but they do not understand why a triple axel is so impressive.
To complete an axel, a skater takes off from the outside edge of one skate, rotates in the air and lands on the outside edge of the opposite skate. An axel is an “edge’’ jump, meaning that a skater springs herself into the air from bent knees instead of using a toe pick to push off the ice like in a toe loop, flip or lutz. A triple axel is actually 3.5 turns in the air because the skater must come out of the jump skating backwards. An axel is a required for short programs and free skates but, most women in competition do double axels for the most part. Triple axels are more common in men’s skating. The difficulty of the jump comes from the the height needed and the control it takes to land it.
To give an example of how important a triple axel is to the scoring of a skater, the standard value of the triple axel is 8.5 points, while a double axel is 3.3 points.
The Axel is a figure skating jump with a forward take off. It is named after Norwegian figure skater Axel Paulsen who, in 1882, was the first skater to perform the jump.
But since then, there have only been three women to have landed in Olympic competition.
Midori Ito from Japan in the 1992 France Winter Olympics which you can see in the footage bellow. This was a momentous occasion as the first women to achieve this in the Olympics.
Mao Asada was the next to make history. She was also from Japan in the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics.
And finally Miriai Nagasu February 2018 in this years winters Olympics.
Many women in free form choose to do a double axel or will even will plan on a triple axel, but will not be able to get enough rotations in.
Nagasu began skating at age five striving to be as those she admired. Kim Yuna, Michelle Kwan and Mao Asada were her inspirations in her early years.
In the 2002 she competed on the juvenile level and placed fifth at the Southwest Pacific Regional Championships. Her first coach was Sandy Gollihugh for most of her early career.
Nagasu moved up to the intermediate level in the 2003 season and she placed fourth at the championships. At age 11 she started competing in the Junior divisions eventually moving onto be a 2 time medalist winner in the Junior division. In 2010 after having won gold at the National Championship, she earned her spot in the US Olympic team. There she won a silver metal at only 17 years old.
This was Nagasu’s second Olypmic games. She finished fourth in the 2010 winter Olympics and was not given a spot in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. But this year she came back and came back with a vengeance. Nagasu told reporters during an afternoon news conference in PyeongChang,
Many women have attempted the triple axel in the Olympics, but they will either fall or under rotate the jump. Every little detail must be taken into account when attempting such a feat. According to her costume designer, Pat Pearsall, the number of rhinestones taken into consideration for her outfits because of the weight they added.
In the first half of Nasagu’s free form she threw herself into the air and made history by landing it.
“Sports are evolving and always evolving, and people have that determination to keep going and coming back,” Nagasu said. “I think I’m one of those athletes. I stand to show that people shouldn’t give up. You’ve got to just keep going until you succeed.”